A controversial bill redefining Louisiana optometrists as "optometric physicians" and allowing them to perform certain surgical procedures was approved by a House panel Wednesday.

The heavily lobbied House Bill 527 by Rep. Frank Hoffmann, R-West Monroe, drew swarms of white-jacketed ophthalmologists to the House Committee on Health and Welfare to protest a measure that they said diminishes the importance of medical school, and puts patients at risk.

Advocates for the broad legislation said optometrists, who are primary health care providers tasked with examining and diagnosing eyes, should be allowed to inject medicine into a patient's eye to treat diseases or use lasers for "simple procedures that rarely have side effects."

Proponents also argued that the measure would double the amount of eye care to residents in rural parts of the state where practicing ophthalmologists are few and far between.

The bill would also allow optometrists to use scalpels, electric cauteries or ionizing radiation to perform certain procedures, but bar them from performing 16 specific surgeries such as retina laser procedures like LASIK, and also bar them from administering general anesthesia.

The legislation grants the Louisiana State Board of Optometry Examiners the sole authority to regulate and determine what constitutes the practice of optometry and allows doctors of optometry to prescribe all drugs, including hydrocodone combination drugs such as Vicodin.

"In the end, this bill is about access, access to quality eye care for all the people of Louisiana," said James Sandefur, executive director of the Optometry Association of Louisiana. "Our patients, and especially those in the rural areas, do not have access to these procedures. This bill would give them the access they deserve."

Optometrists do not to go medical school. A licensed optometrist goes through four years of optometry school before being certified by a state board. Optometrists can prescribe contact lenses and glasses, and perform some minor surgical procedures.

Ophthalmologists are medical and surgical eye specialists who are required to go through four years of medical school, three years of residency and at least one medical internship.

Ophthalmologists wore "Oppose 527" patches while testifying against the House Bill 527.

Ophthalmologists bearing red patches on their lab coats reading "Oppose 527" crowded the committee room and spent the majority of the two-hour debate testifying against the bill.

Critics said the legislation is a "blatant expansion of services without training" that mandates different standards of care for residents in rural areas. Opponents also argued that optometrists were pushing the legislation because supplementing their services would bring them added revenue.

"The real concern, the optometrists, they want to be ophthalmic physicians or optometric physicians by an act of the Legislature," said John Cooksey, a former Louisiana congressman and an ophthalmologist with a private practice in Monroe.

"The problem is, the optometrists want ... this designation as a physician and yet, when it comes to oversight they want to be designated as an optometrists. Well, you cannot have it both ways," Cooksey said.

Cooksey also argued against the substantial lobbying effort pushing the bill before it reached committee, saying some optometrists had spent a majority of their time fighting for the legislation instead of acquainting themselves with the procedures and training necessary to perform delicate eye surgeries.

Of the bill's 17 co-authors, nine serve on the House health committee. "We have really worked hard. This is one of the hardest bills we've ever been worked over the last few days," said Committee Chairman Scott Simon, R-Abita Springs.

Similar legislation has been passed in Kentucky and Oklahoma, and the measure could help patients who may choose to delay or forego care if they have to travel to find a specialist, said Chris Wroten, a practicing optometrist in Louisiana. Wroten added that he's already performed similar operations on patients in other states.

"There's no such thing as a simple surgery," countered Evan Schoenberg, who is completing his final year of ophthalmology residency at Tulane University.

Hoffmann said he would likely amend the scope of the optometry's board before the bill is debated on the House floor, but bill challengers say a lot of changes would have to be made before they're comfortable with the legislation.